WEBVTT 00:00.870 --> 00:01.610 Hi there. 00:01.620 --> 00:07.740 In this lecture, we see Michael Adams playing against Adam Ashton in the 2019 British Championship 00:07.740 --> 00:08.940 round three. 00:09.330 --> 00:12.070 So we have E four for Michael Adams. 00:12.090 --> 00:19.410 E 5.3 9c6, Bishop b5a6 for Adams plays Bishop A four. 00:19.410 --> 00:22.200 We have nine of six D free. 00:22.830 --> 00:25.890 So this is a very solid move. 00:25.890 --> 00:33.630 And why is now potentially threatening to win the E five pawn if one had played bishops hc6 here the 00:33.630 --> 00:42.150 common known trap is Queen D four Well, kind of trapping that black is getting a small edge with the 00:42.150 --> 00:44.330 Bishop White shouldn't really do this. 00:44.340 --> 00:46.860 Black is going to castle queenside with a small edge. 00:47.310 --> 00:49.950 So so D three does actually threaten though. 00:49.950 --> 00:54.630 Bishop takes C six now so Black reacts to that four at B five bishop be free. 00:54.630 --> 00:59.820 We have Bishop E, 7a4 and now be four is played. 01:01.110 --> 01:06.000 Knight BD two and we see this is not going to be the c3d4 plan of the royal players. 01:06.000 --> 01:11.730 Instead, White's still going to try and play 4d4 later though, and maybe try and expose the weaknesses 01:11.730 --> 01:13.500 on the queenside later. 01:13.500 --> 01:15.180 So we see d69. 01:15.210 --> 01:16.110 C four. 01:17.600 --> 01:18.470 Black castles. 01:18.470 --> 01:19.070 White castles. 01:19.070 --> 01:19.280 Rook. 01:19.280 --> 01:20.020 B eight. 01:20.480 --> 01:20.880 Rook. 01:20.900 --> 01:21.650 E one. 01:22.250 --> 01:23.150 H six. 01:23.150 --> 01:23.780 Bishop. 01:23.780 --> 01:24.650 E Free. 01:25.640 --> 01:28.280 And this looks as though white might be preparing. 01:28.280 --> 01:29.210 DD four. 01:29.480 --> 01:34.220 And in fact, rookie eight we do have D four here, so not being concerned. 01:35.850 --> 01:37.230 About nine takes E4. 01:37.260 --> 01:39.360 There's pressure points on E five hair. 01:40.380 --> 01:43.640 Black actually plays E takes the form. 01:43.650 --> 01:45.210 We have nine takes D four. 01:45.360 --> 01:50.010 So hitting that C six, nine, eight, nine takes the E4, Bishop takes the E4 and this protects the 01:50.010 --> 01:51.030 E4 pawn. 01:51.240 --> 01:54.360 We have Bishop B seven and now the e pawn is dissolved. 01:54.360 --> 01:55.350 But at what cost? 01:55.350 --> 01:57.330 There is a potential danger on this diagonal. 01:57.330 --> 01:59.370 The bishop is looking straight at G two. 01:59.400 --> 02:04.950 We have D takes E five, Knight takes E five, Bishop D five, and you might think, Well, that's okay 02:04.980 --> 02:05.400 then. 02:05.400 --> 02:10.620 If Black wants to get rid of the attacking bishop, we have 9c4 shielding the B three bishop. 02:10.620 --> 02:15.270 So maintaining that piece in the position, it's a good piece, it's worth maintaining. 02:15.420 --> 02:20.640 So sometimes positional play is not just improving your existing pieces, but safeguarding the good 02:20.640 --> 02:21.240 ones. 02:21.240 --> 02:27.630 So we have Bishop, a friend in fact that bishop is quite good in the sense of that Queen de five his 02:27.630 --> 02:32.460 friend here, Adams, prevents the impact of Queen de five with free. 02:32.790 --> 02:35.730 If he doesn't, this could be an instructive mistake. 02:35.730 --> 02:37.290 A five does queenly five. 02:37.470 --> 02:44.130 And in fact, if we play, for example, 93, there's Queen G five here, and that's an aggressive position 02:44.130 --> 02:44.580 for the queen. 02:44.580 --> 02:51.900 We don't want to be subjected to this kind of pressure and pin pressure have to get out of the pin 95. 02:52.170 --> 02:54.510 It starts to be better for black slightly. 02:54.510 --> 02:57.630 So every hair thwarts that plan. 02:57.630 --> 03:04.500 We have 95 if Queen de five instead, then there's actually 95. 03:04.500 --> 03:06.660 The Queen is never going to get a chance to get to G five. 03:06.660 --> 03:13.080 It's blocked from G five and the dangerous bishop is revealed on seven and that's crushing 90 6f7. 03:13.470 --> 03:15.240 So 95 is tried. 03:16.020 --> 03:19.640 Queen D two, Bishop G five, Queen two. 03:19.650 --> 03:23.370 The Queen tucks on F two safeguarding the Bishop on D four. 03:23.370 --> 03:26.700 So none of White's pieces are unprotected right now. 03:26.700 --> 03:35.220 We have a pair of rooks coming off Bishop h4g3, Bishop F six, and now Bishop E five is played. 03:35.220 --> 03:41.160 This vacates the D four square bishop takes e 5.6 e five Queen D six. 03:41.340 --> 03:45.690 And now the Queen can park on D four rookie eight. 03:46.290 --> 03:54.630 So here if C five Queen D three is sufficient this position we can play F four and here if F six not 03:54.630 --> 03:56.460 minding a pair of rooks coming off. 03:56.610 --> 03:59.760 And if we play a five we've got a grip on the light squares. 03:59.760 --> 04:02.130 We've got an overall positional advantage still. 04:02.520 --> 04:04.170 So rookie eight is played. 04:04.170 --> 04:07.440 We have King F to rook the 89d free. 04:08.400 --> 04:13.070 So pressurizing B for this, this retreat shows the whole point of the queen parking on default. 04:13.080 --> 04:18.090 These queenside pawns are being scrutinized so there's options just to simplify. 04:18.090 --> 04:22.290 So we have a five sometimes in the expression weaknesses create other weaknesses. 04:22.320 --> 04:24.720 You know, they kind of multiply. 04:24.840 --> 04:27.870 And here both of these pawns are potential vulnerabilities. 04:28.380 --> 04:36.120 And as especially if we can simplify 9e5, we have Queen F six, Queen C five, Queen five. 04:36.660 --> 04:42.330 And now actually a slight inaccuracy from Adams, even though it's very lucrative and there is still 04:42.330 --> 04:48.690 a small edge, this might not be the most accurate way to go, but it definitely seems a human approach 04:48.690 --> 04:49.230 here. 04:50.170 --> 04:55.540 In this position, Amoy is actually threatening some fantastic tactics. 04:55.720 --> 04:57.590 Let me just show you a token move. 04:57.610 --> 05:04.600 Like h five, we could play bishops hd5 and we could play Queen takes d five, hair and B the exchange 05:04.600 --> 05:06.700 up off the check would be the exchange up. 05:06.700 --> 05:12.700 So Black does actually have to react to 96, however. 05:12.730 --> 05:19.630 More accurate in a scientific manner is rookie to queen King e one only move for advantage. 05:19.630 --> 05:22.120 And if we get this position we could take out a five. 05:22.120 --> 05:24.610 So this should be another way of playing it. 05:25.690 --> 05:29.080 If we'd played instead of King one, King G one. 05:29.080 --> 05:35.590 Just to show the dangers of Black's position, Black does actually have access to this central file 05:36.040 --> 05:38.590 and play 94 to celebrate that fact. 05:38.860 --> 05:41.110 So here, very, very dangerous. 05:41.650 --> 05:50.260 So if G takes check and black can at least get a perpetual check because our C five queen is not protected 05:50.260 --> 05:52.420 so black can get a perpetual check like that. 05:52.420 --> 05:58.030 So anyway, 96 though, it's kind of simple and strong. 05:58.030 --> 06:03.220 Bishop St C six, Queen St C six and now Rook dissects a huge mistake already. 06:03.220 --> 06:03.970 Immediately. 06:03.970 --> 06:06.430 It's slightly difficult for black to play this position. 06:06.730 --> 06:08.770 Black hands play it seems key H seven. 06:08.770 --> 06:10.360 This would be the best trying. 06:10.360 --> 06:17.350 So rookie eight for example, White should be in the driving seat with a small edge if Queen B five 06:17.350 --> 06:17.800 instead. 06:17.800 --> 06:18.550 Queen H three. 06:18.550 --> 06:21.460 This position shows again that black has resources. 06:21.460 --> 06:25.900 We've got to factor in the black resources because here there's Rook D two. 06:25.930 --> 06:26.980 That's nasty. 06:26.980 --> 06:28.270 This would be nasty. 06:28.270 --> 06:31.360 So we don't want to let the opponents have counterplay. 06:32.110 --> 06:36.190 So we would have to tread carefully with rookie eight. 06:36.190 --> 06:41.230 So sometimes simplification is an absolute essential because these pieces we're trying to simplify could 06:41.230 --> 06:43.990 be really quite dangerous for our King. 06:44.080 --> 06:49.690 So okay, we have Rook D six though, so that's a huge mistake. 06:49.690 --> 06:56.800 If Queen H three instead immediately rookie eight queen size check and we could just take on D five 06:56.800 --> 06:57.100 here. 06:57.100 --> 06:58.510 The Queen's by herself. 06:58.510 --> 06:58.990 So. 06:58.990 --> 07:01.410 Okay, so what happens now? 07:01.420 --> 07:03.250 Why is this a huge mistake? 07:03.730 --> 07:08.980 Can you see what white plays here, which is just simple and strong, gets rid of Black's counterplay. 07:09.040 --> 07:11.260 A Capablanca mechanism. 07:11.260 --> 07:15.100 Simplify it when you have a small edge, cash out, small edge, cash out. 07:15.130 --> 07:17.160 Be confident in the endgames. 07:17.600 --> 07:20.050 You know, Queenie, just cash out. 07:20.050 --> 07:21.670 Get the queen's off queen E4. 07:21.670 --> 07:23.650 So we have Queen sex E4. 07:24.880 --> 07:27.040 If Queen G6, we're just going to take on D five. 07:27.040 --> 07:28.150 Thanks very much. 07:28.180 --> 07:29.290 If King G six. 07:29.290 --> 07:30.010 This is interesting. 07:30.010 --> 07:31.450 h4h5. 07:31.450 --> 07:35.050 We can take the Queen's off and still get an advantage. 07:35.050 --> 07:36.730 Our rooks pretty active. 07:36.730 --> 07:39.580 Our pawns are pretty solid compared to Black's pawns. 07:39.760 --> 07:45.100 So here we're actually going to win some material and and get time to stop C4. 07:46.390 --> 07:48.640 Yeah, that would be potentially unpleasant. 07:48.640 --> 07:49.000 C4. 07:49.000 --> 07:50.740 We put brakes on that. 07:50.740 --> 07:52.180 We're with the advantage here. 07:52.180 --> 07:55.720 So Queen takes E4 is played after Rook takes E4. 07:55.720 --> 08:00.480 There's actually a very strong frappe, believe or not even the simplified position Rook C4. 08:00.490 --> 08:03.220 We can start targeting all of these pawns. 08:03.550 --> 08:11.470 Almost like simultaneously we have rook D7 if Knight f6 rookie five looks at a five, what's holding 08:11.470 --> 08:12.160 up a five? 08:12.160 --> 08:13.150 This is the thing. 08:14.260 --> 08:19.270 These weaknesses are starting to be amplified in the endgames. 08:19.270 --> 08:22.780 There's nothing holding them up whilst white pawns. 08:22.780 --> 08:24.790 They're holding each other, they're still supporting. 08:24.790 --> 08:26.440 So it's a stronger structure. 08:26.440 --> 08:34.330 This position, even if we lose H two, we've actually now got a fast outside pawn, which is much faster 08:34.330 --> 08:37.480 than Black's potential creation of a past pawn. 08:37.480 --> 08:40.180 So this gives away a huge advantage, this position. 08:40.180 --> 08:45.130 We can even hold a three and get ready for just queening the outside pawn. 08:45.130 --> 08:47.320 So Rook D seven is played. 08:47.320 --> 08:54.130 We have rook C4 King G6 and now targeting that poor little pawn, a five pawn. 08:54.730 --> 09:00.790 Yeah, that poor little pawn is the weakness in Black's position, which is completely and utterly exploitable. 09:00.790 --> 09:04.600 When we're thinking about weaknesses, we should question the are they exploitable? 09:04.600 --> 09:06.910 And here what is holding up that pawn? 09:06.910 --> 09:07.750 Nothing. 09:08.620 --> 09:10.900 And the bishop's like holding C two. 09:10.900 --> 09:13.120 There's no role counterplay for black here. 09:13.120 --> 09:15.790 So black actually resigned in this position. 09:15.790 --> 09:19.780 If Knight of six Rook takes a five, what is black doing? 09:19.780 --> 09:21.220 The check is pointless. 09:21.640 --> 09:26.320 If c6a6, we're going to make progress with the outside passport. 09:26.320 --> 09:28.600 So Black called it a day here. 09:28.600 --> 09:30.100 Rest for the next day. 09:30.730 --> 09:31.150 Okay. 09:31.180 --> 09:32.890 Very interesting positional game. 09:33.100 --> 09:38.170 We see how weaknesses are naturally amplified as we get closer to end games. 09:38.170 --> 09:42.730 So those weaknesses installed in the middle game, which seemed like a good idea at the time to stop 09:42.730 --> 09:49.120 classic Roy, the pair's plans are actually potentially they're the downsides of black position in their 09:49.120 --> 09:49.690 own right. 09:50.190 --> 09:50.610 So. 09:50.610 --> 09:52.200 Okay, very interesting position game. 09:52.200 --> 09:53.750 I hope you enjoyed this again. 09:53.760 --> 09:56.490 Counterplay was kept under control. 09:56.520 --> 10:00.090 We didn't see all the flashy, amazing resources of black. 10:00.090 --> 10:02.700 We don't see that in Adams games in British championships. 10:02.700 --> 10:05.040 He doesn't lose in British championships. 10:05.040 --> 10:07.200 He controls the counterplay very well. 10:07.290 --> 10:09.360 Or if he loses, it's very, very rare. 10:09.720 --> 10:10.620 Okay. 10:10.710 --> 10:12.990 I hope you enjoyed this so much.